In the 1980s members of the United Palestinian Workers in Sydney wrote a joint statement for peace with members of the Sydney Jewish Left. The SJL invited the Palestinians to a passover feast as well. It is encouraging to hear that such dialogue is happening now. It is probably no accident that the main initiative seems to come from women. Keep it up, in spite of criticisms from both sides every little effort to make peace and to have dialogue is worth while.

Good on you!

Only this kind of efforts can start the real peace process.
So far, most efforts were just focused on armistice.

There is a need for deep understanding that happiness of Jews and Palestinians can be achieved only simultanously.

regards

Paul

I would encorage participants in this thread to read "Blood Brothers" by Fr. Elias Chacour and also to learn a little of his life at http://www.meei.org/who/abuna.html.

"Blood Brothers" give a bit of history of the establishment of the state of Israel through the eyes of a Melkite Christian Palestinian boy as he grows to manhood and becomes a leader in the quest for reconciliation between Palestinian Arabs and Jews. That boy is Elias Chacour.

where do the palestinians stand? the jews have taken most of their land, and seem intent on taking all.

after taking the land with military force, they are aggrieved to discover that hamas wants to take it back, with military force.

every conqueror wants peace, when their appetite for conquest is sated. it's much easier to enjoy the fruits of victory when the other side accepts defeat. hamas isn't there yet, and after the failure of the usa to establish a colony in iraq, perhaps they are right to be hopeful.

in the meantime, ozzies should think twice about following the usa into military adventures: putting morality aside as pollies do, the relative decline of usa economic base is beginning to manifest itself in their military capabilities. the yanks will declare "mission accomplished" soon enough, and leave iraq. then the people there will work out their destiny without 'guidance' from the pentagon. but the truth is, our "great friend" is a hollow shell, a paper tiger. standing near them will be painful and profitless.

As a 54 year old gentile but keen observor of middle eastern politics, I think that the authoress is spot on in her strategy. The start of the resolution of the northern ireland problem, started with the groups that the authoress is proposing and ended in the unified womens march's of the eighties that was the basis for the todays positive developments in Ireland.

The issues between the Palestinian people and the Jewish culture are our best bet for a peaceful resolution between Islamic culture and Western culture. Jewish culture is middle eastern culture but whether western civilisations like it or not, it is a parant of western culture. If such a resolution occurs, then it becomes a conduit of the West to open a dialogue with the Islamic world.

It is clear that states cannot resolve this dilemna and yet citizens of both cultures want the same things. They want security, economic well being and social stability. The only way to effectively deal with radicals in both camps is to have members of their family seeking conciliation.

By the laws of social intercation, one person will represent hundreds. Both cultures are based on clan based family structures. Thats where effective change will occur.

I wouldn't worry to much about the local community authorities; neither should the Palestinian community. Its not a political exercise its a social episode.

Best of luck.

Goodness me, speaking as a social scientist, how in the heaven can anyone expect peace between Arabs and Israelies, when a half-baked America has allowed little Israel to build atomic weaponry with power enough to take command of the whole Middle East?

All this with the Arabs, apart from crude rocketry and a few side-arms, have only suicide bombing to really voice their opinion.

Talk about condemning academics who have Phd's covering the problem, it is about time most of our onliners got real and listened to people who spend their lives doing scientific studies on it.